FLORIDA. 107 



poorly welded together that the vessels tend to fall to pieces along the jointage. In 

 some of the ruder pieces the coils are still traceable, especially on the inner surfaces 

 where neat finish was difficult or unnecessary. The walls of the ruder wares are 

 thick, clumsy and uneven, those of the better varieties thin, uniform and evenly 

 dressed. The finish is also varied, ranging from the roughest hand-modelled sur- 

 faces through variously roughened to well polished surfaces. In many cases a thin 

 coat of finer clay has been applied to the exterior to hide the coarse materials and 

 render polishing easy. 



The baking or firing seems to have been of several grades and varieties ; 

 usually, however, the surfaces show the mottlings characteristic of the open air 

 treatment common with the tribes of the United States. As a rule the paste has 

 been somewhat whitened to a greater or less depth by volatilization of vegetable 

 elements, the interior of the mass remaining dark or black. In some localities de- 

 cided reddish and yellowish tints are seen, a result of oxidization of the iron con- 

 tained in the clay. 



The forms are diversified in the extreme. The larger vessels of the class de- 

 voted to culinary operations are simple in outline, ranging from deep round-bot- 

 tomed bowls to wide-necked pots. These larger vessels have been especially sub- 

 ject to breakage and few are recovered in their entire state. The smaller more 

 trivial articles are well preserved. Small bowls and cups of toy-like appearance 

 are common. A bowl with roundish body and constricted lip is typically Flori- 

 dian. Bottles are rare while eccentric forms are rather common. Handles are varied 

 yet of somewhat exceptional occurrence, as if exotic, and feet or added bases of any 

 sort are rarely seen, the bottoms being rounded, conical or slightly flattened. Squarish 

 outlines and flat bottoms are sometimes met with. Animal forms are rather com- 

 mon and occasionally a shell or fruit is imitated. 



Decoration is varied and even heterogeneous, so much so that it can be prop- 

 erly described only in connection with the detailed study of groups. It includes 

 fabric and cord marked surfaces, stamped surfaces, incised and indented figures of 

 many styles and rarely painted figures. The exterior surfaces of vessels otherwise 

 plain have, in some sections, received a wash of red ochre. Decorative effects were 

 also secured by roughening the surface in various ways as by pinching up the soft 

 clay with the finger nails and by modelling ridges and nodes in low or high relief. 

 The lip or rim is often embellished by notching, waving and scalloping. 



The textile impressions so characteristic of the earthenware of the eastern and 

 northern United States, and found to some extent in Florida, have never been well 

 understood. The most commonly accepted theory is that the vessels were modelled 

 in baskets or other textile supports and that impressions from these, made upon the 

 plastic material, were rendered permanent by baking. This assumption is not sup- 

 ported by the facts. It is doubtful if baskets were ever used as molds to shape the 

 clay in, and it is not even certain that shallow trays were employed to support the 

 incipient vessel aud assist in turning it while the walls were built up as was the 

 custom in the pueblo country. In all the thousands of cases that have passed 



